A few questions about notification of results if anybody can help please?

I know not every child who passes the Tiffins or Sutton tests will be offered a Grammar School place and therefore the notification that they have passed the 11+ is only part of the story. I have been told however that some schools worded these notification letters so that you could 'guess' whether or not your child was likely to get a place eg the wording for a very high score might tell you that your child was highly likely to be offered a place whereas, for a more borderline pass, you might only be informed that they had reached selective standard. Parents of girls have told me that Nonsuch reveal the overall score achieved and leave you to work out from last year’s cut-off your chances of getting in. Is any of this still the case?

I also wondered about the timing of the Tiffins and Sutton Grammar exams as this does not allow parents to know the outcome of the tests before they have to fill in their CAF forms. Are parents informed of the results of the Sutton Grammar and the Tiffins tests after the exam but before the March offer day? I totally understand that parents want their children to perform well on these tests so having a cluster of 3 or 4 of them in September wouldn’t be ideal but, at the same time, it does seem to leave two unknowns when it comes to filling in the form by the October deadline.

We will fill out the form according to our true preferences and will take a chance on one or two schools with unknown results, but I was just wondering how the notification process came into it. Am I also right in thinking that if DC failed Sutton Grammar but passed Wilsons (above the cut-off score) that he wouldn’t be disadvantaged if we had put Wilsons below Sutton Grammar on the form?

I think Sutton send a letter before but only saying if your son has reached the pass mark or not i.e. deemed to be of selective ability. I don't think they tell you the score at all. You will not find out about Tiffin until at least allocations day, they might not actually send the letters out showing your son's scores until the day after IIRC So all you will know on March 1st will be whether he has a place or not if that is still the case.

They sent out a variety of different letters. If you scored > 345 you got a "guaranteed place". Between 340 and 345 it said it was inconceivable that you would not get a place and I understand letters were more cautious below this, but seemed to imply it was likely a place would be offered

and viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3746&start=10says that boys with the top 100 scores were told they had a "guaranteed place" in the October letters and, as such, were advised to put Wallington on their CAF form. Other pupils were merely told that they had passed the test but weren't promised a guaranteed place.

Many people I have spoken to with children who went through the 11+ even just a couple of years ago seem convinced that the Grammar Schools tell you how likely your child is to get a place long before offer day yet nothing I've seen on the school websites or heard at open days supports this. Is it a simply a case of letting the child sit the tests and filling in the CAF form according to your true preferences (but working blind to some extent by not knowing the Tiffins or Sutton Grammar results at all and not knowing Wallington and Wilson's cut-off) or do some schools send a letter that is worded in such a way that you can guess your child's chances of getting a place as it seems they once did?

Up to and including the 2009 test (2010 entry) Wallington sent out a results letter after the test and before the CAF was due in which they stated both the mark and the rank order of your child. Clearly a result that put you in the top 120 meant that you would get a place at the school, and it was likely that they would down to somewhere in the low 200's/high 300's. The letter they sent out varied. To those in the upper part of the ranking they stated that if you put Wallington as your first choice then your son was guaranteed a place. This was correct, but many misunderstood. If you did not put them first and failed to get into your first choice school you were still guaranteed a place at the school as the order in which you put them on your CAF is irrelevant, however clearly if you put another school above them and got a place there then you would be removed from the Wallington 'pool' of applicants and therefore not get a place there. This was all explained at a meeting the school held in between the test results and CAF submission deadline, and because there seemed to be confusion they also sent out an additional letter to explain. In essence they were saying if you want your son to definitely come to WCGS you need to put the school first on your CAF.

Anyway the confusion led to a bit of a mess in the end. Parents had put Wallington first but really wanted another school which they put lower on the CAF but which their son would also have got a place at had they put it above Wallington. This led to quite a bit of shifting around on waiting lists etc and I suspect a bit of an admin overload as parents tried to get their sons into the school the preferred but had put below WCGS on their CAF.

As a result last year they stopped sending out that information and I think you only get your mark now and have to take a guess as to where your son is based on past years marks.

ThreeKids - thank you. I didn't think I was going crazy but nobody seemed to know anything about it i detail.

I understand how those letter might have caused a lot of confusuion but even just getting the score this year will help as a very rough indicator. Do all schools give scores do you know, or just Wallington?

I was fairly sure that Wally Girls, Wally Boys and Nonsuch all let you know the mark that your child got, but now I'm beginning to doubt that! Certainly I heard of people who knew their mark from Nonsuch and I think the same was true of Wally Girls, but thinking back I have a vague memory that all the boys grammars had agreed to only let you know if you have passed or failed, and if you have failed you get your mark. Maybe somebody who was more involved last year can shed more light on that.

My son took the exams for Wallington, Sutton Grammar and Wilson's last year. He passed all three and the only information given in all three letters was that he had passed and was therefore of selective ability. There was no result nor any indication of what position he had come. Indeed the letters specifically stated that this did not mean he had necessarily obtained a place. As it happened he was offered a place at Wilson's which was his first choice.Sutton subsequently wrote with his detailed score and wishing him well in his new school. Never heard from Wallington regarding his score and Wilson's do not make it available.

I beleive if your child does not make the cut-off mark to be considered then they do give the score.

Hi as a mum of one daughter who is in a grammar and another in year 5 I can confirm that Nonsuch give you the score however Wallington Girls just tell you if they have passed the test or not with the same letter for everyone. With Nonsuch you can roughly guess how likely you are to get a place on last years scores however it doesn't really help much if you are informed your daughter has passed the Wallington Girls test as more girls who passed the test don't get a place than do as I believe over 400 and something passed last year for only 180 places! I suppose it will just mean that if your daughter doesn't pass its not worth using one of your school choices up on. Roll On September when this can all be over and done with!

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